Support Increases For Judge Defense Attorneys Criticize Tactics

Broward County defense attorneys are rallying to support a criminal judge who has been feuding with the State Attorney`s Office for the past two years.

Several defense attorneys have written the State Attorney`s Office and told them to stop trying to intimidate Broward Circuit Judge J. Leonard Fleet.

The Sun-Sentinel reported on Dec. 1 that prosecutors have amassed a large dossier on Fleet, a judge who handles criminal cases ranging from rape to murder.

``Building a case against a judge by compiling and using selective transcripts intimidates the independence of the judiciary and does not maintain the integrity of our profession,`` wrote Larry Davis, president of the Broward County Criminal Defense Association, in a letter to State Attorney Michael Satz.

The prosecutors have spent $4,000 of the taxpayers` money to order transcripts of Fleet`s remarks over the past two years. They say the transcripts prove Fleet orally harasses and humiliates prosecutors, calling them spies and questioning their academic qualifications.

Fleet, 57, says he does not harass the prosecutors but does take them to task when they are lazy or unprepared.

Fleet concedes he distrusts the State Attorney`s Office and thinks there is a conspiracy against him because the prosecutors think of him as ``a defense attorney in a black robe.``

``I think this is reminiscent of what J. Edgar Hoover did,`` Fort Lauderdale defense attorney Fred Haddad said of the actions of the State Attorney`s Office. ``You either play ball our way or we`ll get you off the bench. I think the Florida Bar ought to investigate the prosecutors.``

The Broward County Criminal Defense Attorneys Association met last Tuesday and discussed what they called an attempt by the State Attorney`s Office to intimidate Fleet`s rulings and possibly get him transferred to another division, such as civil, or strip Fleet of his judicial robe altogether.

Satz questioned how his office could be intimidating Fleet by ordering transcripts of the judge`s remarks.

``How could you intimidate someone with their own words?`` Satz asked. ``We have a client to protect, the people of the State of Florida, and that`s what we`re doing. We`re just trying to do our job.``

Satz declined to say whether his office plans to ask the Judicial Qualifications Commission to review Fleet`s conduct. The commission has the power to remove or suspend judges from the bench.

Paul Zacks, an assistant state attorney in charge of the felony crimes unit, said in a letter to Fort Lauderdale defense attorney Patrick Rastatter that the State Attorney`s Office has tried to cooperate with Fleet, but their efforts have been futile.